Skimmerless?? Anyone??Miracle Mud??

[BCOrchidGuy]

Mitch, thank you so much, I've been doing google searches on it and not found anything close to that. Amazing that so much hype has been made of it and it's so high in silicone as well as aluminum and iron. I did notice it's got a fair amount of magnesium which would be nice.

Tony, I guess instead of saying seaweeds I should have said see grasses and some macro algaes like mermaids fan which I haven't seen in forever. I've just been hearing to much about caluperas going asexual and that kind of worries me. Not to mention the dramatic damage C. taxifolia and other caluperas are having on the environment when introduced by hobbiests through their waste water etc. I wonder if local sea grasses would survive in an aquarium long term? Christy should have access to lots of turtle grass and eel grass as there are a number of biologists in the nanaimo area doing studies on eel grass and turtle grass (I think turtle grass).

Well, that makes me wonder as well if local mud from the beach would be a benneficial addition to a sump/refugium....

Doug

[Namscam]

Hey Tony, I dont think any LFS sells eelgrass but if you ask nice to someone on the island they can get you some......Eelgrass are very common on mudflats, saw lots when I was in Bamfield, in general, just find a mudflat, and there you go instant eelgrass ready to be used

[Delphinus]

Doug, some (although not all) of the seagrass/eelgrass species you have on the BC coast there, have ranges that extend down to the Sea of Cortez. I don't have any of my reference material handy, but I beleive that the Sea of Cortez enjoys water temperatures CLOSE to (albeit not quite exactly) that of a "typical" reef aquarium.

Again I don't have my texts handy with me but it's something I can check at home (as to which species it is that goes down that far south) and get back to you if you're interested. I've often wondered how well those species would do in one of our tanks. The ones that stay in the temperate zone, obviously no need to try those of course. I'd try it myself but unfortunately a walk to the beach and back with my shovel and a bucket is a little far for me.

[Buccaneer]

Wonder if the eelgrass will adapt to the warmer water of our aquariums ???

[Namscam]

I m sure they ll adapt to our aquariums because they are out of the water exposed to the warm air(esspecially in the summer) most of time anyways being on the mudflats and all

[BCOrchidGuy]

That's what I was thinking, I've been diving on the sunshine coast when the top 10-12 feet of water has been close to 80 degrees for most of the summer. I figure it will adapt....


Doug

[Delphinus]

BTW, eelgrass (Zostera marina) used to be collected out of Florida but the reason it is so hard to find is because collection of it (for basically any purpose) has been banned (and they are extremely strict in Florida, I don't know how they are in neighbouring states but I imagine they would be as well). Z. marina has a range that extends as far north as Greenland, so to me that suggests that it could be found in the Atlantic provinces (no idea about Canadian rules about collecting it, though).

Turtlegrass (Thalassia sp.) is sometimes available from places like InlandAquaria or billsreef.com (not sure if I have the address correct) but I believe that neither place will ship to Canada. I asked billsreef.com and they told me to take a hike (well ... politely of course). when I asked Inland, they never got back to me (I'll assume that's a "no").

Tropicorium is a place that has some grass, no idea if it's turtle grass or eel grass, but it is from a specimen collected over 10 years ago and they only sell cuttings of it. When I asked them where it had been collected they just laughed. "It is not collected any more."

Bear in mind that this stuff is supposed to be rather finicky. It may handle tropical reef like temps for part of the year but that does not mean it can withstand it year-round. Don't forget your coastal waters are .. ah ... a little chilly this time of year.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Tony, I used to be a dive instructor out here, trust me when I say, "You're right, our waters are a bit cold this time of the year" We used to take folks out for their training dives almost every weekend of the year. Got pictures (Somewhere) of an open water class that we did in what would be considered a blizzard for us out here. Once your in the water the snows not a big deal. Interestingly enough, once you get below about 15 feet our water temperature only changes by about 3 degrees summer/winter. The top layer though can vary greatly (which is were you'll find eel grass etc). Our Island (vancouver island) has some of the most amazing places to dive, you'd be surprised at the varitey of marine life and colour you can see out here. Plumose anemone that are massive, flowing in the current, little strawberry polyps, amazing red creatures, sea squirts, nudibranchs, etc etc etc... Wolf eels that will eat an urchin out of your hand, they look like scared up old mens faces on a 6 foot long tadpoles body but they can behave like lonely puppy dogs.... anyway..


Doug

[Bob I]

I know you are all waiting, but in my defence the question was asked I do not use a skimmer of any kind, no sump, no water changes, no refugium, no Miracle Mud, no testing. and last but not least NO PROBLEMS.

Oh and I almost forgot, no RO/DI water either.

I do use Chemipure in a Fluval filter. That's it.

[BCOrchidGuy]

OMG BOB!!!! You risk taker... I've been seriously wondering if we're going over board on alot of this stuff. I was thinking of going with the skimmerless idea, and keep my sump just because I like the auto fw top off. Instead of alot of costly additives a 10 gallon/week or even bi weekly water change should handle most issues....

I know I'm kind of going off and even against what I just said but, I've been considering using a plenum under my sandbed in the refugium, and live rock in the tank, no other filtration. Chemi Pure, I agree Bob that stuff does something and I've never had problems when I've been using it. I want an easy to take care of system that grows well, and looks good.... so much to think about.

Thanks for all the replies.

Doug